jacquelinegun wrote:Why is this sentence "The old building was burnt down last night" more suitable than "the old building had been burnt down last night"?

The same with:Tell us how you and your sister had been kidnapped last month.Tell us how you and your sister were kidnapped last month.

Please reply asap.

Thanks!

The time expression "last night" when representing a moment in the past which happened and referring to a sole action, demands the use of the past simple (was burnt - passive, or were kidnapped - also passive)Past Simple is the form of a verb used to express what existed or happened in the past.

"Had been burnt" or "had been kidnapped" : This is the Past Perfect Tense, used when there are two events or actions that happened in the past, one before the other. Example:

When I heard the news (1st action, past simple) your sister had been kidnapped (2nd action, past perfect, happened before the first one).